Chapter 10 Deception

Valencia’s POV

"What?" Xander's voice was sharp with surprise.

I stood up from the bed, letting the cloak fall from my shoulders. My torn dress barely covered me, and I was still weak, but I didn't care. "I said I accept. If Amara wants to challenge me, I accept."

"You're insane," Dorian said, his eyes wide. "You're wolfless. You can't fight a Gamma."

"That's my choice to make," I said, surprised by how steady my voice sounded. "Isn't it? Or do slaves not even have the right to accept a challenge?"

Alpha Logan finally turned to face me fully. His gray eyes studied me with an intensity that made my skin burn. "You would die."

"Maybe," I said, meeting his gaze. "But at least I'd die fighting. At least I'd die with some dignity instead of being murdered in my sleep by someone who thinks I'm a witch."

Xander laughed, but there was no humor in it. "You think you have dignity? You're a slave. You're nothing."

"If I'm nothing, then why is your sister so threatened by me?" I shot back. "Why does she need to challenge nothing?"

His face went red again. "You manipulated our Alpha—"

"I did nothing," I interrupted, my voice rising. "I was about to be sacrificed. Your Alpha saved me. I didn't ask for it. I didn't seduce him. I didn't bewitch him. I'm just trying to survive, and apparently, that's a crime here."

"You dare interrupt me?" Xander took a step toward me, his hand moving to his sword.

Alpha Logan moved so fast I barely saw it. One moment he was standing by the table, the next he was between Xander and me. "Touch her and lose more than a hand."

Xander froze, his face pale.

"As you heard," Alpha Logan said to Xander, his voice deadly quiet. "She accepts Amara's challenge. Tell my Gamma to prepare herself well. One week from today, in the castle courtyard."

Xander and Dorian both nodded quickly.

"When should we release Amara from the dungeons?" Dorian asked.

"Twenty-four hours," Alpha Logan replied.

"Yes, Alpha."

Both men bowed and left the room, closing the door behind them. The silence that followed was deafening.

My heart was still racing from the adrenaline of accepting the challenge. I tried to calm myself, to push down the excitement and fear warring in my chest.

I walked around to face Alpha Logan and dropped to my knees in front of him. "Do you have any other commands, Alpha?"

Instead of answering my question, Alpha Logan stood and stepped closer to me. His gray eyes searched my face, and for a moment, I thought I saw something softer in his expression. But it happened so quickly I might have imagined it.

"What is your name?" he asked.

The question caught me completely off guard. Why would he care about my name? Alpha Marcus and Luna Kestrel had never bothered to learn it. For years, I had simply been "you" or "slave" or "girl." No one had spoken my actual name in so long.

Heat flooded my cheeks as I realized he was waiting for an answer. "Valencia," I said quietly. The name felt strange on my tongue after so many years of silence.

"Where are you from?" Alpha Logan asked, his eyes never leaving mine.

My first instinct was to tell him the truth - that I was from Moonfall Ridge Pack in Aldermere. But Aldermere and Valdoria were still at war. If Alpha Logan knew I was from the enemy kingdom, he might kill me immediately.

"I'm a rogue, sir," I lied, keeping my voice steady. "My parents were rogues too. They died during a raid against rogue settlements."

Alpha Logan's eyes locked onto mine, sharp and penetrating. I felt like he could see straight through my lies. Fear crawled up my spine, but I forced myself to meet his gaze. I couldn't show weakness now.

"Where did you wander?" he asked.

My heart hammered against my ribs. I searched my memory desperately for a place name that wouldn't give me away.

"Thornwick Vale," I said, trying to keep my voice steady. The place Luna Kestrel had mentioned once.

Alpha Logan's eyebrows rose slightly. "That's Elton's territory."

I nodded, praying he wouldn't ask for more details about a place I'd never actually been to.

"How did you become Marcus's slave?" Alpha Logan stepped closer, and I had to tilt my head back further to look at him.

Panic fluttered in my chest. I needed to think fast. I remembered my father telling me about the kingdom's layout - Alpha King Winston ruled from the center, with his three sons and brother controlling the outer territories. Alpha Marcus held the west, Alpha Elton the east, Alpha Logan the north, and Alpha Soren the south.

"Alpha," I began carefully, "I was wandering along the river, heading west. I collapsed near the marshlands from hunger and exhaustion. When I woke up, Alpha Marcus had captured me. I became Luna Kestrel's slave to survive."

Alpha Logan took another step forward. Now he was only inches away from me. I could feel the warmth radiating from his body - something wild and masculine that made my pulse quicken.

"You did very well," he said, his voice softer than before. "You're smart and brave."

I stared at him in shock. Was he... praising me? My eyes widened as I searched his face. The coldness in his gray eyes had disappeared, replaced by something I couldn't identify. It wasn't the cruel indifference I expected from the man they called The Mangler.

I felt lost in a fog of confusion. Why had he saved me? Why was he being kind? What did he want from me? Until I understood his motives, I needed to keep my distance.

"Do you have any other commands, Alpha?" I asked, taking a small step backward. "If not, I should leave you to rest."

Before I could move further, his hand shot out and grabbed my wrist. His grip was firm but not painful. "Take a bath," he said softly. "Don't wander around. Sleep in my bed."

I looked down at the floor, unable to meet his intense gaze. "I shouldn't be here. This is your private chamber, Alpha. Slaves don't belong in places like this."

"Do you see anyone else here besides us right now?" Alpha Logan's voice turned cold again.

It was strange. Alphas usually had many attendants, like Alpha Marcus and Luna Kestrel. They had people for meals, people for clothing, everything they needed was taken care of by someone. But Alpha Logan seemed to have no attendants at all, except for me now...

"...They will know," I said quietly. I was certain the pack members would gossip about the shameless slave following the Alpha into his bedroom. Too many people had already seen us together.

Alpha Logan was getting annoyed. "So what? What if they know?"

I felt helpless. Why did I have to explain everything? This man was either too confident or knew nothing about the world we lived in.

"Alpha—" I started, but he was already pulling on his doublet.

"Just do as I say." His voice was firm but not harsh. "I'll be back."

He grabbed his sword from the table and strode to the door. Before opening it, he looked back at me one more time. Then he was gone.

I listened to the footsteps fading down the hallway. Multiple sets of boots—Logan and at least three others. Their urgent pace echoed through the stone corridors until the sound disappeared completely.

I stood there in his room, my mind reeling.

Why? Why would Alpha Logan save me? Why would he give me food and have a doctor tend to my wounds? Why wound he do all this for me?

"I'm just a wolfless slave," I whispered. "I'm nothing."

But it seemed Alpha Logan doesn't see it that way. The way he looked at me... my heart raced. Those deep gray eyes held no disgust, no contempt, but rather a kind of tenderness and... care that I've never seen before?

"This can't be possible," I shook my head, trying to convince myself that all of this is only temporary. "Tomorrow everything will go back to the way it was."

My eyes fell on the bathtub. Steam still rose from the water. Logan had told me to bathe. Could I really use it? The same water he'd just been in?

I walked closer, staring at the herbs still floating on the surface. No one was here to punish me for using the Alpha's bath. He'd specifically told me to do it.

I quickly stripped off my torn dress and slipped into the water before I could change my mind. The warmth immediately soothed my aching muscles.

Oh god. I was in the same water Alpha Logan had bathed in.

My face burned hot. I sank lower in the tub, the water coming up to my chin. I couldn't stop thinking about how he'd looked in this very tub, completely naked and magnificent.

There was a small voice contradicting me. Maybe... maybe Alpha Logan really was different. Maybe what he saw wasn't just a slave, but... me? The real me?

This thought both excited and terrified me. The excitement came from possibly having finally found someone who truly valued me. The fear came from wondering - what if all of this was just my imagination?

"Stop it," I told myself firmly. "You're being ridiculous."

I didn't have time to figure it out. Someone could come in at any moment. I quickly scrubbed myself clean, then climbed out and dried off with a rough cloth I found near the tub.

My dress was still a mess. I decided to wash it too. It was my only clothing, after all. The fabric was so worn it barely held together, stained with years of dirt and blood. I scrubbed it as best I could in the leftover bathwater.

"Pathetic," I muttered, wringing out the dress. Even clean, it looked like a rag. Some of the bloodstains wouldn't come out no matter how hard I scrubbed.

I sighed and hung it over a chair to dry. Then I wrapped myself in Logan's cloak again. It smelled like him.

The room felt too quiet. Too empty. I walked to the door and tested the lock. It was secure. That made me feel slightly better.

I approached the bed cautiously. Could I really sleep here? In an Alpha's bed?

The mattress was softer than anything I'd ever felt. I sat on the edge first, then slowly lay back. The pillows cradled my head like clouds.

"This is what sleeping in a bed feels like," I whispered in wonder.

I was exhausted. Everything that had happened today—the funeral, the rogues, Amara's attack, accepting the challenge, Alpha Logan's confusing attitude—it all crashed down on me at once.

My eyes felt heavy, but my mind wouldn't stop racing.

Could I be his fated mate?

The thought made me sit up straight. No. That was impossible. I was wolfless. I didn't have a wolf to recognize a mate bond. How could the strongest Alpha in Valdoria be mated to someone like me?

"Don't be stupid, Valencia," I told myself.

But what? If he wanted sex, he could have taken it already. If he wanted a servant, there were better options than a half-dead slave. Nothing about his behavior made sense.

I lay back down, pulling the blankets over me. They were warm and heavy, nothing like the thin rags I usually slept under.

My body was winning the battle against my restless mind. The bed was too comfortable, and I was too tired. My eyes closed despite my attempts to stay alert.

A gentle female voice woke me up. I drowsily opened my eyes and glanced out the window - it was already very bright outside. I realized I had overslept, and fear crept into my heart.